Drying apparatus



Sept. 23, 1930. B. R. ANDREWS DRYING APPARATUS .2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 192s lnvem or Bernard R. And gws by HM MW Arrys.

Sept. 23, 1930. B. R. ANDREWS 1,776,609

DRYING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 5.

Inventor Bernard R. Andrews v by #:M M W AHys.

Patented Sept. 23, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BERNARD R. ANDREWS, F BRAINTREE, MASSACHUSETTS DRYING APPARATUS Application filed November 6, 1928. Serial No. 317,666.

This invention relates to drying apparatus heated air which is delivered onto the web material is directly proportional to the velocity of the air as it impinges on said web material and hence for rapid drying it is [0 highly desirable that the air should be delivered to the air material at a relatively high velocity.

In the drying of web material it is the common practice to move the web material past the egress end of stationary nozzles through which heated air is being delivered so that during the movement of theweb material said heated air will impinge on the heated material and thus effect the drying. It is not practical, however, to place the stationary nozzles in close proximity to the web materiaLespecially if the latter is cloth or some flexible material because such cloth or flexible material is likely tohave more or less waving motion as it is moved past the nozzles .with the result that the web material is likely to catch on one of the nozzlesor to engage the nozzles and thus become more or less damaged. Consequently with the stationary nozzle it has been customary to place the egress end at a distance ofa few inches from the web material to avoid any likelihood of said material engaging the nozzle. The spacing of the egress end of the nozzle-from the web material is, however, a detriment as the, velocity of an air current issuing from. a nozzle decreases rapidly in proportion to the distance from the nozzle and hence when a jet of air is delivered at a relatively high 40 velocity from a nozzle which is situated four or six inches from .the web of material the velocity of air when it reaches the web ma- .terial will be very greatly reduced.

Inasmuch as the drying eflect of the air is impinges on the web material the dr g eiiect of a nozzle placed several inches om such material will be very much less than would .be the case if the air could'be delivered against the material at substantially the same velocity at which it left the nozzle.

Furthermore, if in drying web material such as cloth which is filled or loaded with a filling material the jets are delivered against the cloth at substantially right angles thereto there is danger that the filling material will be blown out of the cloth somewhat thus aifecting its quality, especially if the air jets are delivered against the cloth at a relatively high velocity.

It is one of the objects of my present invention to provide an apparatus 'for drying web material by which the air may be delivered onto the web material at a relatively high velocity without any danger that either the web material or nozzle will be injured by being brought into contact with each other and also without danger that the quality of a filled web material will be impaired by the high velocity jet of air.

In carrying out my invention I have provided a novel form of nozzle in which the end from which the air jet is delivered is movable "so that in case it is engaged by the moving I have also provided a novel form of nozzle 8o by which the drying air current will be delivered to theweb material in the form of a sheet moving in the general plane ot the I web material. A drying current of air may be delivered in this way to the web material at a high velocity without deleteriously affecting the quality of the material.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side view of a drying apparatus. embodying my invention; I

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 2--2, Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a front view of one of the nozzles;

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the manner in which the nozzles deliver the air to the web;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged vertical section view showing two opposed nozzles on opposite sides of a web of cloth and illustrating'the manner in which the air is delivered onto the cloth;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one of the nozzles;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged section on the line 77, Fig. 5. l

My invention is adapted for the drying of various kinds of web material and merely as illustrating one use to which it may be put I have shown it as it might be used in drying cloth which is supported in a tenter-frame, the cloth representing the web material to be dried and the tenter-fra-me representing the means for supporting'it and moving it past the nozzles.

In the drawings 1 indicates generally the tenter-frame which may have any suitable or usual construction, it being illustrated as having two longitudinally-extending members 2 which are supported at suitable inter vals on supports 3. The web material t is supported at its edges by suitable grippers 5 that are carried by endless chains 6 that are guided in ways formed in the longitudinal. members 2, this being the usual construction of atenter-frame. I wish to state, however, that the tenter-frame has been referred to merely as illustrating one form of supporting means for the web material to be dried.

The drying of the web material 4 is accomplished by air jets which aredelivered onto one or both sides thereof through suitable nozzles 7 and 8. The nozzles 7' are situated above the web material 4 and are connected to a conduit 9 which extends to a suitable air-forcing mechanism indicated generally at 10. The nozzles 8 beneath the web material are directed upwardly against the under side thereof and they are connected to a suitable conduit 11 which also has communication with the air-forcing mechanism 10 so that air under pressure will be delivered against both sides of the cloth from both nozzles.

If the egress end of the nozzles 7 and 8 are fixedly secured in place it is not practical or feasible to have said ends close to the moving web material 4, especially if the latter is cloth or some other flexible material because as the cloth moves it is apt to have a more or less up and down or waving motion, especially at the leading edge when it is being introduced into the tenter-frame. If the eduction end of the nozzles is too close to the cloth there is danger that the cloth will catch on the nozzles or will engage them and thus be damaged thereby, but the placing of the egress end of the nozzles at a distance of four to six inches from the cloth has the disadvantage that the jet of air will suffer a very decided loss of velocity in traversing the distance from the end of the nozzle to the cloth and will thus lose much of its drying effect.

I have by my invention provided a novelmeans by which the drying jet of air may be delivered from the nozzle onto the cloth or other web material at a relatively high velocity, thus giving the maximum drying effect Without danger of injuring the web material and may also be delivered in the form ,of a sheet extending substantially parallel to the face of the web material.

In securing these ends I propose to employ a nozzle having a movable eduction end which is constructed so that in case it is engaged by the. moving web material being dried it will move out of the way to allow the web material to pass and will then automatically resume its normal position again.

By means of this construction it is possible to have the eduction end of the nozzle normally very close to the surface of the web material so that there will be no appreciable loss of velocity in the drying current of air between the time it leaves the nozzle and impinges on the web material. Furthermore, due to the special shape of the eduction end of the nozzle this drying current of air is delivered along the cloth in the form of a sheet and at a high velocity so that a maximum drying effect is produced. Moreover, since the drying current is delivered onto the web material in a direction substantially parallel to the surface thereof a high velocity of air currentma-y be used without injuring the web material in any way as might occur if the jet of high velocity was delivered against the latter in a direction substantially perpendicular to the face thereof.

Each nozzle terminates at its eduction end in a deflector member 12, each member having a flat surface 13 extending beyond the eduction opening 14 of the nozzle, said flat surface merging into a concavely-curved fanlike deflecting surface 15. In the construction shown the body of each nozzle 7 and 8 is rigid but the deflector portion at the eduction end thereof is pivotally mounted to the fixed body so that it may swing in the general direction in which the web material is moving. The deflecting member 12 acts as a guiding member which extends from the eduction aperture 14 into close proximity to the cloth 4 and which guides the air current delivered through said eduction aperture onto the cloth.

The air current which is delivered through each nozzle will flow along the flat surface 13 and then will be deflected by the curved deflecting surface 15 in a fan-like sheet of air which is delivered over the delivery edge 16'of the nozzle in a sheet formation extending substantially parallel to the surface of the materialbeing dried. By th'us having the delivery end of the nozzle movably mounted it will easily swing out of the way in case it is engaged by the moving web material 4 as might occur if the web material ferred to as movably connected to the body of the nozzle. This maybe conveniently done by pivoting them thereto and as illustrated in the drawings each deflector member is provided with ears 17 and the nozzle is provided with trunnions 18 extending through apertures in said ears.

Means are provided for normally holding each deflector member in its operative posi: tion while allowing it to swing about its pivot out of the way as shown by dotted lines Fig. 4 in case it is struck by the web material during the movement of the latter.-

One convenientway would be to employ a light spring 19 for this purpose, the spring beingshown in Fig. 4 asconnecting the tail portion 20 of the deflector member With the body of the nozzle. While I'have herein illustrated a construction in which the delivery end of the nozzle ismovably mounted yet the invention is not necessarily limited to this particular construction, the essential thing being that the portion of the nozzle adjacent the web material should be movable in the direction of the length of the web material.

A device embodying my invention is not only highly advantageous for drying'ordinary cloth or similar material but is'of special advantage in drying web material in the form of cloth such as cloth for shades, which has been loaded with some fillingmaterial. In drying web material of this kind it is detrimental to deliver a current of air against the web material at high velocityin a direction at substantially .right' angles thereto because such high velocity air jets are apt to blow some of the filling material out of the cloth thusimpairing its quality.

With my invention, however, the high velocity air current can be used, thus speeding up the drying operation because the drying current is delivered onto the material in the form of a sheet extending parallel to the surface thereof and there is no tendency for an air current ofthis sort to blow the filling material out of the cloth.

I claim:

1. In an apparatus for drying web material, the combination with means for holding said web material and moving it for-,

ward, of nozzles for delivering heated air.

onto the surface of the web material, each nozzle comprising a stationary body portion provided with an eduction aperture spaced from the web material, and a deflecting member pivotally connected to the body portion and extending from the eduction aperture into close proximity to the web material, the pivotal connections permitting said deflecting members to swing in the direction oftravel of the Web material upon engagement by the web.

rial, the combination with means for holding said web material and moving it forward, of nozzles for delivering heated air onto the surface of the web material, each 2. In an apparatus for drying web'matenozzle having an eduction aperture spaced from the web material, and a deflecting member extending from the eduction aperture into close proximity to the Web material, said deflecting surface being shaped to deliver the air onto the web material in a direction substantially parallel to the surface thereof, said deflecting portions being pivotally connected to the body of the nozzles so that the delivery end of the deflecting surface can yield in the generaldirection of the movement of the web material upon engagement by the web.

3. In an apparatus for drying web mate rial, the combination with means for holding said web material and moving it forward, of nozzles for delivering heated air onto the surface of-said web material, each nozzle comprising a body portion provided with an eduction aperture spaced from the web material, and a deflecting member yieldingly connected to the nozzle body and extending from the eduction aperture into close proximity to the web material, said deflector member being shaped to deliver the air onto the web material in a direction substantially parallel to'the surface thereof, and the yielding connection permitting the delivery end of the deflector member to yield inthe general direction of the movement bf the web material upon engagement b the web.

4. In an apparatus for rying web material, the combination with means for holding said web material and moving it forward, of nozzles for delivering heated air onto the surface ofthe web material, each nozzle comprising abody portion provided with an eductionaperture spaced from the web material, and ahdefiecting member extending from. saidaperture to a polnt 1n close proxim ity to the web material, each deflector being .otally connecting each deflector to its nozzle body to permit the delivery end thereof to swing in the general direction in which the web material is moving upon engagement by the web."

5. In an apparatus for drying web material, the combination of means to move the web material forward, of nozzles for delivering heated air onto the'surface of said web material, each nozzle comprising a body por tion provided with an eduction aperture spaced from the web material and a deflecting member yieldingly connected to the nozzle body in the direction of movement of the web, and extending from the eduction aperture into close proximity to the web material, said deflector member having a flat surface merging into a concavely curved. fan shaped deflecting surface, thereby to deliver a sheet of air onto the web material in a direction substantially parallel to the surface thereof.

6. In an apparatus for drying web material, the combination of means for holding said webmaterial and moving it forward of nozzles for delivering heated air onto the surface of said web material, each nozzle comprising a body portion having an eduction aperture and a deflecting member, said defleeting member having a fiatsurface merging into a concavely curved fan shaped defleeting surface thereby to deliver a sheet of air onto the web material in a direction substantially parallel to the surface thereof.

7. In an apparatus for drying web material, the combination with means for holding said web material and moving it forward of means for delivering onto said web. ma-

- terial heated air in the form of a sheet extending substantially parallel to the surface of said material and moving at ahigh velocity relative to said material, comprising a nozzle having a flat surface merging into a concavely curved fan shaped deflecting surface.

8. In an apparatus for drying web material, the combination with means for holdweb material, thepivotal mounting of each guiding member permitting it to swing relative to said body portion inthe direction of travel of the web material upon engagement by the web.

9; In an apparatus for drying web material, the combination with means for holding saidweb material and moving it forward, of nozzles for delivering heated air onto the surface of the web material, each nozzle com-- prising a stationary body portion provided with an eduction aperture spaced from the web material, and a pivotally mounted deflecting member extending from the eduction 

